Immigration

Nevada Immigrant Coalition

The Nevada Immigrant Coalition, comprising several grassroots organizations, community leaders and direct service organizations, works to advocate and protect the right of immigrants in our state. NIC holds regular meetings regionally in Reno and Las Vegas and statewide meetings every first Friday to discuss the latest immigration developments and plan actions when necessary. NIC believes that Comprehensive Immigration Reform with a pathway to citizenship as well as the DREAM Act are the only solutions to our broken immigration system.

Mission Statement: “The mission of the Nevada Immigrant Coalition is to advocate and protect the human and civil rights of immigrants and refugees by building a statewide network of partners and allies from the wide spectrum of our community. We strive to empower our immigrant community through education, civic engagement, and by fostering leaders for future generations.”

PLAN Citizenship Program

PLAN Immigration and Citizenship Program works to assist those individuals who qualify for legal status here in the United States and where appropriate, assist them through the paperwork and legal process.
The primary objective of the program is to help individuals obtain self-sufficiency and stability in the United States by helping them obtain, among other benefits:

-Legal Permanent Residency

-Temporary Protective Status

-Employment Authorization

-Deferred Action for Children Adjustment

-Citizenship

495 Apple St, Suite 108

Reno, Nevada 89502

Phone number (775)800-1851

Fighting Anti-Immigrant Policy

Federal and State Anti-Immigrant laws

SB1070 Arizona Law and the US Supreme Court decision

On June 25th, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on SB 1070’s “show me your papers” provision sets back civil rights for 5 decades, because it opens the door to racial profiling. The provision is based on the notion that America should expel 11 million undocumented immigrants, most of who have worked and lived in America for more than a decade. This is both impractical and un-American. This decision encourages discrimination against people based on how they look and speak and legitimizes the “self-deportation” program advanced by nativists to drive down immigration.

The unconstitutionality of racial profiling was not considered by the court, yet legal and law enforcement authorities agree that the provisions of SB 1070 upheld by the court cannot be enforced without racial profiling. The Arizona law and other state anti-immigrant laws, like Alabama’s HB 56, threaten the rights of citizen and noncitizen workers alike. The decision has rubber stamped racial profiling nationwide. The Nevada Immigrant Coalition, Latinos, immigrants and people of color won’t stand for racist laws in our state that target their communities and tear apart their families.

Anti- Immigrant bills at Nevada Legislature 2011

In the 2011 Legislative session, extreme-right legislatives pushed 7 anti immigrant bills, two of them: the E-Verify bill and a bill authorizing police officers to ask for immigrant documents to immigrants stopped in a traffic infraction, received hearings that were defeated by a huge coalition pro immigrant; including NIC, the Latino Caucus and Unions and also the lack of support from the business community in Nevada helped to defeat these bills.

Secure Communities Federal Program

Secure Communities (S-Comm) is a blend of federal immigration and local law enforcement functions. When Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) introduced the S-Comm initiative it promised to remove “dangerous criminal aliens” from the United States; instead it has swept up tens of thousands of non-criminal immigrants. The Nevada Immigrant Coalition as well as hundreds of immigrant advocates across the country have taken steps to reduce the reach and impact of S-Comm in our neighborhoods, there are devastating statistics that show the program is failing to live up to its promises and is burdening not only immigrant families but also local law enforcement and taxpayers.

These programs diminish public trust in our police even as they fail to meet their stated goals of targeting violent, repeat criminal offenders. Each day that these programs continue more mistrust erodes vital lines of communication between the immigrant community and the police, and more families are needlessly disrupted by the deportation of loved ones who have no prior convictions or only minor criminal records.

S-Comm could be reformed in various ways to better achieve their stated goals and to deal with unauthorized immigration in a way that acknowledges the reality of economic circumstances and the dignity of our foreign-born neighbors. On 2011 we did call on Governor Sandoval to take action within his own realm of influence to stand up for immigrants’ rights and civil rights alike by taking meaningful action to confront the destructive impact of S-Comm in Nevada, but he turned his eyes around.

We recommended that the basic principles of justice and due process are best served when arrest is used only when necessary. NIC believes that cooperative individuals without outstanding arrest warrants who are stopped for broken taillights, fishing without a license or other very minor offenses should not be taken into police custody. Officers should not make an arrest simply because a person cannot produce a state driver license or identification card.

About

The Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada was founded in 1994 to bring together diverse and potentially competing organizations into one cohesive force for social and environmental justice in Nevada. Since 1994, our organization has grown from 12 original founding member groups to a current membership of over 30 organizations.